The Dart Harbour team are celebrating winning the coveted SME Port of the Year Award.

The ceremony was hosted in Dover by the British Ports Association to recognise and showcase outstanding achievement across the UK ports sector.

An independent panel of experts judged the entry and a spokesperson said that: “Dart Harbour was recognised for its inclusive culture and innovative ethos.

“The harbour has delivered a new training pontoon for Britannia Royal Naval College, refurbished ageing infrastructure and improved facilities across its local area, demonstrating how a small port can deliver significant improvements with limited resources”.

The former leader of Britannia Royal Naval College Captain Andrew Bray championed the bid as he was in charge during the Sandquay development.

Dart Harbour has a total team of around 20 full-time staff and around 20 yacht taxi drivers.

They oversee 12 miles of navigable water up to Totnes and including Bow Creek and Old Mill Creek.

Harbour Master and CEO Paul Britton was delighted with and proud of the result: “I’m so excited.

“Particularly in the last year, we've put such a lot of work into running the harbour and going above and beyond the basics and making this into what we feel is one of the best harbours in the country,” he said.

“It's fantastic to have it publicly acknowledged by the British Ports Association that they feel like we are the best small or medium port in the country over the last year.”

“It is an award for the entire team.

“I don't think there's anybody who didn't at some point get involved with one of the various initiatives that we've done, whether it's driving the electric yacht taxi or contributing to some of the bigger projects.

“It's definitely a prize for the whole team.”

Although the pontoon for BRNC was the major project there were other aspects such as the swimming lessons that they are delivering for hundreds with the aim of teaching every child in Dartmouth to swim.

Richard Ballantyne, Chief Executive, British Ports Association presented the awards saying:

“This year’s winners demonstrate the breadth of talent and ambition within our industry, from pioneering sustainability initiatives and major infrastructure investment to outstanding leadership, inclusion and community engagement.

“Ports are vital to the UK’s economy and communities, and these awards showcase the innovation, expertise and commitment that will help our sector continue to thrive.”

John Milsom, Chair of the Dart Harbour Board, commented: “I am delighted that Dart Harbour’s achievements have been recognised by the BPA with its SME Port of the Year award.

“The award is a credit to the brilliant team that our Harbour Master Paul Britton has developed over the last few years, as well as the team’s expertise and hard work.”

Paul Britton said they’ve got plenty planned for the next year: “We've currently got a marine licence in progress and a planning application will be submitted shortly for some new works.

“Our north embankment in Dartmouth is well over a million pounds worth of investment over several years to deliver much better facilities for launching small boats, eventually for having a floating toilet block on the river for visiting and local boats, and use much safer access channels and better disabled access to the pontoons.”